Homeowners, this time.
The Castle caught the edge of a lightning strike in a storm a few weeks back. We’ve been gradually discovering affected electronics since then, and finally realized that “Oh — this goes above the insurance deductible, doesn’t it?”
Because of what was damaged and how we think the surge came in over the cable line. All the equipment was on UPSes or surge protectors, none of which were damaged.
Comcast replaced three cable boxes without question. I guess they’re used to those. The tech says it isn’t possible for power to travel down the cable, but couldn’t explain the damage in any other way.
The surround sound/stereo receiver in the living room is toast. The media server died, but happily, we were able to salvage its hard drives and data. (We don’t back those up — mostly MP3s). Its video card still works, except for the TV output.
Three TVs have acquired shadows on their screens.
The most annoying loss was the microwave. Apparently, there’s a fuse in it that was overloaded. I do remember cooking pre-microwave, but I’ve never had to do it for long.
Sam’s PC monitor died, too. I’d almost forgotten that.
We actually came out pretty well. If we have to get even the edge of a lightning strike, one that we don’t even notice ’til the next day seems to be the ideal kind.
